Sen. John McCain brought some good ideas to the South Coast during his June 23 and 24 visit. At the top of the list, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee proposed a $300 million prize for the development of a battery with sufficient capacity and power to “leapfrog’’ those that now fuel plug-in hybrids or electric [...]
A proposal to spend $1 billion in taxpayer dollars for a prison-hospital complex in the Camarillo area is fraught with problems and contradictions. Ventura County’s health care executives and political leaders are questioning the location of the proposed adult prison health-care facility that would house 1,500 inmates with special medical and mental health needs on [...]
The San Luis Obispo City Council has finalized an ordinance that would allow the formation of a tourism business improvement district, or BID, to market the city’s hotel rooms. A 2 percent levy will be placed on the gross receipts from city hotel rooms, and collections will begin in August. The district is expected to [...]
Work is under way in San Luis Obispo County on Highway 46 East as Caltrans crews install safety barriers for the highway’s widening project. The work is part of a $30 million project to widen five miles of Highway 46 from two lanes to four lanes from Airport Road to Geneseo Road. Construction is to [...]
Wells Fargo & Co. is eliminating paper envelopes from 93 automated teller machines in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. The envelope-free ATMs are expected to reduce waste, save trees and cut air pollution, bank officials said. Instead of having to add up checks, fill out and lick an envelope, and type in the total, customers [...]
The Copeland family’s proposed Chinatown Project is up for a vote by the San Luis Obispo City Council on July 1. The council will vote whether to renew a purchase agreement for two city-owned parking lots near Mission Plaza that are crucial to the project. The Copelands have agreed to pay $3.7 million for [...]
Engineers, hydrologists and other experts are expected to testify in the wrongful death and property damage civil trial prompted by the 2005 landslide in La Conchita. The trial started June 23 in Ventura County Superior Court. During his opening statement, attorney Anthony Murray said complex testimony will be heard about the effect of water coming [...]
Despite plans to add a few more seats, the Thousand Oaks Auto Mall is playing a tricky game of musical chairs. While city officials and auto mall tenants prepare to add parking and storage to the crowded Conejo Valley auto mall, major operators such as Rusnak Auto Group and Silver Star Automotive Group are busy [...]
Just a few years ago, pundits were writing off the tri-counties citrus industry arguing our lemon groves were too costly and too inefficient to survive amid rising land prices. But agriculture is a fickle business. And amid the doom and gloom, some plucky survivors didn’t throw in the towel. They survived freezes and droughts and [...]
Before the night draws to a close on the Fourth of July in the Tri-Counties, Santa Barbara resident Ron Smith will have highly stimulated the visual and auditory senses of thousands of tri-county visitors and residents. Smith is a veteran pyrotechnic show producer and director of sales and marketing for PyroSpectacular, which he said is [...]
It’s all smiles and sauvignon in Happy Canyon’s vineyards
Towbes Group grabs Goleta with Groupon-like deals at retailers
Social-media IPOs could launch Golden State sustainability fund
Ventura County brokers hold out ’til 2013 for real recovery
Name changes and new faces at SLO and Oxnard law firms
From apartments to industrial spaces, deals close in the region